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Get ready for RapidBus in PoCo, Coquitlam in January

Construction taking place along Lougheed Highway will help buses get through grid-lock when service starts Jan. 6
RapidBus
An example of some of the buses in the new fleet of RapidBus set to roll out in the region Jan. 6.

Improvements to Lougheed Highway to make way for a RapidBus between Coquitlam and Maple Ridge are on schedule for a Jan. 6, 2020 rollout of the faster, wider and cushier buses.

And TransLink doesn’t anticipate the commute will be slowed down by gridlock because road improvements now underway will give buses priority in traffic.

“To ensure RapidBus service can be fast and reliable to minimize impact from traffic, we've worked with local governments to identify street and traffic changes that will speed up bus-travel times," Dan Mountain, a TransLink spokesperson, said in an email to The Tri-City News. "These street changes target areas where buses face the worst delays. Changes are then tailored to the unique street context.

"Bus-priority measures improve travel times for all buses travelling along the corridors while having a negligible impact on regular traffic,” 

TransLink’s long-anticipated rollout of the RapidBus, giving riders a quicker commute through the region, comes as a new report on bus congestion ranks Lougheed as 18th out of Metro Vancouver’s most congested routes.

The report, to be presented to the Mayors' Council on Regional Transportation Friday, Oct. 25,  suggests delays caused by congestion are costing money and threatening to erode public confidence in the bus system.

Bus
Some of the changes being made along Lougheed Highway to facilitate bus movement. - TransLink

But the RapidBus system, which is coming to the region in January, is seen as one way to fix the problem, although funding and municipal support are needed to get the road changes necessary to help buses negotiate traffic more quickly.

In Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, work is well underway with those street improvements.

Construction is evident along Lougheed from Coquitlam Central Station through to Ottawa Street in PoCo to create bus priority lanes and queue-jumping lanes, and add traffic signals so the distinctive blue and green buses can get through traffic faster and connect riders to SkyTrain. 

Bus
An example of the new digital signs that will tell customers when their next bus is coming. - TransLink

But once the work is completed and the new buses are in place, it's expected passengers will benefit from service every 10 minutes during morning and afternoon peak hours and every 15 minutes the rest of the time, providing riders with a 30- to 37-minute trip between Maple Ridge and Coquitlam Central Station.

Today, there are eight bus routes that travel along Lougheed, moving a combined total of 18,500 passengers per day, according to TransLink, and all eight buses are expected to see time savings from the street changes that are being made.

Among the benefits of the new RapidBus, according to TransLink, will be more capacity on the buses, padded seating, digital displays, including a button for audio, so riders know when their next bus will come, all-door boarding and signs on the doors that will indicate where the bus is headed. The buses are painted blue and green to make them stand out from standard buses.

The stops include: Ottawa and Westwood streets in PoCo; Coquitlam Central Station; Harris Road in Pitt Meadows; and Laity and 203 streets in Maple Ridge.

The Lougheed Highway route will be one of five new RapidBus routes in the region.